Briefings on topical issues issued by the World Nuclear Association.

Although peak generation from solar briefly exceeded generation from nuclear energy on 26 May 2017 in the UK, over the whole day nuclear generated considerably more low carbon electricity. Expanding nuclear offers greater potential for emissions savings.

Lloyds Register have today published their latest Technology Radar report, A Nuclear Perspective. The report concludes that nuclear power generation technologies are now cost competitive with fossil fuels and innovation is gathering pace.

Preparations are underway for the restart of the Sendai 1 reactor in Japan. Sendai 1 is a pressurized water reactor (PWR) sited on the southwest coast of Kyushu, the third largest island of Japan. It is owned and operated by the Kyushu Electric Power Company.

The World Nuclear Association has published reports on nuclear fuel supply and demand at roughly two yearly intervals. The report published today is the 17th in the series and extends the forecasting period to 2035. It includes scenarios covering a range of possibilities for nuclear power.

The action taken today by the Austrian government is supposedly to challenge the decision by the European Commission to approve the Contract for Difference mechanism proposed for Hinkley Point C. However, the true motivation of the action was revealed by Austrian Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann, who last week issued a statement saying: "This is a further important step in our anti-nuclear policy, whose long-term objective is a nuclear-free Europe."

The Global Apollo Programme Report has the objective of making carbon-free baseload electricity less costly than coal within ten years. Nuclear generation working with renewables has already allowed countries such as France and Sweden to achieve the goals of this report.

Energy reports come and go but every now and then one grabs your attention -for all the wrong reasons. The recent interim report "Subsidies and costs of EU Energy" is one such report. Prepared by energy consultancy Ecofysi for the European Commission, it is intended to inform future European energy policy. It is fair to say that this prospect has raised eyebrows of quite a few members of the nuclear community.

The World Nuclear Association Licensing and Permitting Task Force, a joint effort between the Law Working Group and CORDEL held a major two-day conference in conjunction with the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle conference in Prague this week.

A new report from the World Nuclear Association looks at mechanisms for utilities, vendors and the regulatory bodies to work together to support reactor design standardisation throughout a reactor fleet's operational lifetime.

A reliable electricity supply is the lifeblood of our economy and our daily lives. But the essential nature of electricity is not acknowledged by a purely deregulated market. Governments must take action to ensure that the lights will stay on decades into the future.

The Financial Times has focussed on the IEA World Energy Outlook comment on nuclear decommissioning costs, with a headline reading "Bill for shutting nuclear plants will reach $100bn". To be clear the $100bn figure is for the decommissioning of almost 200 reactors, nearly half of the reactors currently operating, between now and 2040. This might seem to be a significant sum, but it needs to be put context.

How we generate electricity, grow food, heat buildings, travel and manufacture goods are just some of the activities leading to the production of greenhouse gases. For that reason, if you think that we need to reduce emissions, then no one single change can be the total solution.

Reading the coverage of the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook 2014 you might come to the conclusion that renewables will flourish, nuclear's future is uncertain, oil supplies are a matter of concern and surprisingly little has been said about coal and gas.